Major League Soccer Expansion Update

In a follow up to an evolving topic I have covered previously on Frank’s Forum, Major League Soccer (MLS) made an announcement recently about their expansion efforts. The premier soccer league in North America plans to expand from their current level of 20 franchises to 24 franchises by the year 2020.

 

In my prior coverage of this expansion effort I detailed the bid from Atlanta which was approved and they will enter the league in 2017. The league also sold Chivas USA and the new ownership group renamed the club “LAFC” which will join the league in 2017 after rebranding and attempting to build a second soccer-only venue in the Los Angeles area for their team to have a whole new identity.

 

This leaves two expansion positions and many potential bids from interested markets. The interest is so strong regarding expansion that MLS now appears to be considering the idea of going beyond that 24 team goal for membership in the league. The following are the latest potential candidates and the latest news on the bids:

 

Minnesota / Twin Cities: MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced that the league has entered what he termed “advanced talks” with the Minnesota United bidding group regarding an expansion franchise. The Twin Cities area originally had two bids in play for MLS expansion: the Minnesota United bid organized by the ownership group of the minor league team currently playing there, and a bid from the owners of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings who are currently building a new state of the art multi-purpose stadium that could be used to host an MLS soccer team. However the league office announced that the Vikings bid has been eliminated and that MLS is moving ahead with the United bid. That group is rumored to have plans to build a privately financed new soccer stadium somewhere in downtown Minneapolis. The fact that this announcement was made comes as no surprise because MLS has been eyeing expanding into Minnesota for a long time and for many reasons. It fills a void on their league map as far as regions where they lack a geographic presence, it is a big television market, and the fan support and interest for the Minnesota United is very robust. It is likely that they will be one of the bids selected in the next round of expansion.

 

Miami: I covered this bid in my earlier coverage but essentially this bid has a leg up on the others because David Beckham is the key. Some background for those who do not closely follow MLS, Beckham had a clause in his contract when he came to the US to play in the league for the LA Galaxy that he could get his own franchise for a greatly reduced expansion fee and choose the market it would play in. Beckham and his business partners chose Miami for the expansion bid. The one main issue since that announcement about 14 months ago has been the stadium. MLS stated that it will not approve their bid without a solid plan for the construction of a new stadium. Miami has been unwilling to approve the sites that Beckham has proposed. A temporary stadium has been approved by the city officials at FIU Stadium on that college campus for the team to use until the permanent stadium is constructed, which Beckham thinks could take 3 years. Some other land in the greater Miami area is under consideration at this point. The Miami bid should be accepted by MLS once the stadium issue is resolved. The demographics and size of the market there in South Florida make this expansion a good fit for both sides involved. However Beckham needs to get the stadium land deal secured soon in order for that to happen.

 

Las Vegas: This bid will be easy to summarize and update. MLS sent a letter about six weeks ago to the Mayor of Las Vegas stating that the city and their bid for expansion was no longer in the running. The league has walked that statement back slightly in now repositioning and some sources report that Las Vegas is out of consideration for this current round of expansion to 24 teams, but they may be a candidate again in the future. So the door is not closed, but I never got the feeling that MLS would fit well in Vegas, it is so hot there in the summer during three months of the league’s playing season, I also think MLS does not want to be the first pro league to expand there.

 

Sacramento: The Sacramento bid had (up until the announcement regarding Minnesota) made the most progress and built the most momentum. The ownership group has grown to include business leaders who own the NBA’s Sacramento Kings and the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL. The Sacramento Republic club in the USL Pro league has set attendance records consistently over recent years. The city leaders support the construction of a privately financed soccer stadium, which after the MLS press release regarding Minnesota’s bid, they emerged yesterday to state that they are refining their pitch to MLS specifically around the stadium proposal. Some sources report that this bid made such a positive impact on the league office that MLS may decide to go beyond the 24 team limit to add Sacramento by 2020. I have seen other reports that state that the league will eventually expand into this city at some point if the last two spots do indeed go to Miami and Minnesota in this round of the process.

 

San Antonio: MLS officials have met with the delegation from San Antonio in the past and in my view I think the market makes sense for MLS from a geographic, population growth, and demographic perspective. They have a minor league team in place with a solid fan base (which is a preference of MLS for expansion candidates) and they would have to approve expanding their current soccer stadium to meet MLS specifications. In the end perhaps the biggest issue with their bid is the fact that MLS has two franchises in Texas already and the league may need to use the 2020 round of expansion to enter regions where it does not have a presence currently.

 

St. Louis: This city is very passionate about soccer and has characteristically drawn large crowds for numerous events involving the sport. However it lacks a current minor league team and the bid is very closely tied to the proposal for a new NFL stadium for the St. Louis Rams that would also accommodate an MLS team. The approval for the stadium plan on the riverfront is still in doubt, and it is unknown whether the Rams will remain in the city or move to Los Angeles, as it has been rumored. St. Louis is considered the birthplace of American soccer and the local support for an MLS franchise is undoubtedly there, but they need to still put together an ownership group and they need a stadium. When you consider that the last stadium built there for the Cardinals in 2006 was done with mostly private funding, their bid requires an ownership group with deep pockets that could afford both the expansion fee and financing the construction of a stadium.

 

MLS has stated that they will make an announcement in 45-60 days on expansion of the league. The television ratings have been up significantly over last season in the nationally televised games particularly. The popularity of MLS is growing, and soon the league will have an announcement regarding the growth of the number of teams in the league and people in many cities wait for that news eagerly.

 

(Background information courtesy of NBC Sports.com, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, The Sacramento Bee, St. Louis Business Journal, Miami Herald, USA Today, and the Associated Press)

 

 

 

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